Thief uses tow truck to steal SUV from River Oaks neighborhood

HOUSTON – Surveillance video shows a white Escalade being towed out of a River Oaks neighborhood early Wednesday morning, but the man driving the tow truck was actually a thief.

The Escalade was his latest heist.

"It kind of was the perfect crime, who is going to question a tow truck taking a car?" Jen Meneely said.

The Escalade belonged to Meneely.

Meneely said she woke up about an hour after her SUV was stolen and saw notifications on her phone from On-Star, saying that the vehicle's theft deterrent system had been triggered.

[WATCH: River Oaks stolen vehicle surveillance video]

By the time she called them back, the thieves had disabled the electrical system, so the vehicle couldn't be tracked.

"I was shocked, it was a brand new car. I thought it had a lot of theft deterrent stuff and On-Star, and I thought I was golden, but apparently not," she said. "How do you prevent your car from being towed by a tow truck? He probably took it within a few seconds. Get a job. Be a productive citizen in society, don't take things from hard-working people."


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